need help.... possibly engine problem

C

colicabcadam

Guest
hi all

on the way home today i accelerated in 3rd gear only to loose some power and have the (what i believe to be) emission control system light flash on and off

i pulled over, switch off, turned back on and the light went off however the car is running REALLY rough.

when i accelerate i believe i can hear some rattling, the engine also shakes alot, i drove it for a further 5 minutes home with no improvments, the emission control light has not come back on, but again, it still runs rough, ticks over badly and has hardly any power

any idea? i really hope nothing like a an engine bearing has gone :(
 
ok i was thinking of the worst, i very much doubt the bearings in the crank / piston have gone, it seems normal for an engine to shake when it;s not running on all cylinders....

i've done a little more research, seems it could be the coil pack, injectors, spark plugs, ht leads or possibly the MAF

does anyone near se london want to help me out with a VAG diagnostic, my mechanic is in poland at the mo, i'll give you some beers :0)
 
just an update, started the car again and the emission control system came on after a let the car ticker over / rev it
 
thanks for the replies, sadly i do not ow to check the coils.

i removed the MAF, no luck, so thats one item ruled out
 
keep the engine runing

remove engine plastic cover

remove each coil pack one by one and replace, if it sounds normal when a coilpack is removed then... thats the one
 
but if the coil pack is faulty, how would removing it make a difference? obviously it's not getting any electric to spark the plug....

will removing it shut of that cylinders injector or something?

thanks for the help
 
Sounds like a coil pack mate, what car is it, spec year bhp etc....

Symptoms you are describing sound spot on to a coil pack issue.

Let us know how you get on, also alot do tend to go at this time of year too.
 
right checking for coil packs...

Start your car. Pull out each coil pack one by one and replace each one before you pull the next one out. If when you pull one out the car starts running worse than it was then you know that coil pack was working fine. If when you pull a coil pack out and you dont notice a change in how the car runs then that means that pulling that coil pack out had no affect and makes no difference whether its connected or not i.e. that is the duff coil pack

The coil packs are those 4 black box things on top of your rocker cover. They are attached to the spark plugs. They are the things that ramp up you current so you get enough energy for your spark plugs to spark
 
Last edited:
oh i get you, makes 100% sense, i've whacked 2 out for part numbers/ ohms meter testing (lol, like that did anything), too cold to be testing the ones under the plastic cover / gaurd, cant be ***** to get the tool box out!

it's a 2002 s3 bam, is it worth buying 4 new ones? orignal audi ones? or just get a second hand one? i will update you all tomorrow, many thanks!
 
Dont bother with second hand mate, just get genuine ones from Audi, they are £35 each all in.

Recommendation is to replace all 4 at the same time, but if you cant afford to, one at a time aint that bad.
 
do you know what the most recent part number is? my ones are 06b 905 115j i bellieve 06b 905 115r are the most up to date revision?
 
Im pretty sure the current range is the R one.
 
06A905115D is the latest that was updated in 09 to replace the R, straight from etka which is uptodate.
 
unplug each one one at a time.
the one that doesnt make any difference is the faulty one. just to be sure, pull that suspect coil out and swap it with a coil from a cylinder that did make a difference when you unplugged it.
try it again, has the misfire moved cylinders with the suspect coil or has it stayed at the original cylinder where the suspect coil was.
if the misfire has stayed on the cylinder where the suspect coil was..... then the coil was ok and you have a possible dodgy spark plug/injector. (proveable by moving said components to known working cylinders in the same way as the swapping coils to different cylinders kind of way.) or you have a different more expencive lack of compression problems......
 
Last edited:
ok, i just had the aa out, after a lot of faffing about we managed to get the car started, the current error codes are.....

PO300
PO301
PO302

he had a coil on him, we tried that, but sadly it didn't make a difference, although his one could have been faulty too

because it's cylinder 1 and 2, he said it could be a head gasket problem? what's your opinions? why would 1 and 2 miss fire? what are the chances of 2 coils going at the same time? what else could it be?
 
many thanks for your inputs, changed all the ignition coils to the R revision from a 6 month old crashed a4 1.8t, car works a treat and even though the sparks suffered a beating from unburnt petrol, the car runs better than ever, i have got some denso 0.4mm performance plugs to replace the slightly battered ones, so it should give a little performance after i put them in too!
 
oh, this also proves that the AA guys coil was broken - yep, the aa are useless

just remember, it is possible for 2 ignition coils to fail at the same time, i should have had a little more faith as the original error codes showed 1 and 3 miss firing, but when i took them out to inspect them and put them back in the next day, it changed to 1 and 2.....
 
Glad you got it sorted altho i would say AA arn't usless. they have got me back on the road with minimal downtime so many times, especially when i had my ever so reliable R19 and R5's lol.

if you had gone and got the coilpacks and replaced u never would have needed the aa ;) and if it wasnt the packs then u would have spares as they will go at some point.

on that can coil packs degrade or is it simply they either work or they dont?
 
After searching on here and reading this topic im also thinking i have a coil pack gone.
On the way home tonight, the yellow engine outline warning light came on (checked book and its the emission control).
Yet my car seems to drive ok, no probs.

Will driving with a dodgy coil pack do any harm/damage? as I need to go out again tonight and work tomorrow.
 
Will driving with a dodgy coil pack do any harm/damage? as I need to go out again tonight and work tomorrow.
Click to expand...

i wouldn't do it. but will be ok, will just run like crap, just means its firing on 3. however you look at it, it is not a good idea, but if needs must. i'd get a taxi!
 
Not good to drive with a faulty coilpack, will cause excess strain on the cat and they are expensive to replace.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Audiman99
possibly need new engine mounts.
Replies
3
Views
851
Audiman99
Audiman99
jay1601
engine problem need some advice/ help
Replies
2
Views
687
jay1601
jay1601
M
problem after problem :( need help
Replies
3
Views
678
mr-bongo
M
Herby1
Problem - Need Help please
Replies
20
Views
1K
Herby1
Herby1
H
Injector problem need help
Replies
2
Views
736
Hammy999
H
Top
Back